Category: Music

Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

This week Jim has given us the word prompts of Bird /Fly /Sky /Wing and my immediate thought was to go for Leonard Cohen singing “Bird on the Wire”.(click on the link if you wish to hear it), but then I thought it’s yet another chance to turn to my all time favourites The Beatles, and another fabulous song from the White Album.

This song is performed by Paul McCartney alone, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.

McCartney explained on Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road, aired in 2005, that the guitar accompaniment for “Blackbird” was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach‘s Bourrée in E minor, a well-known lute piece, often played on the classical guitar. As teenagers, he and George Harrison tried to learn Bourrée as a “show off” piece. The Bourrée is distinguished by melody and bass notes played simultaneously on the upper and lower strings. McCartney adapted a segment of the Bourrée (reharmonised into the original’s relative major key of G) as the opening of “Blackbird”, and carried the musical idea throughout the song.

The first night his future wife Linda Eastman stayed at his home, McCartney played “Blackbird” for the fans camped outside his house. The fingerpicking technique that McCartney uses in the song was taught to him by folk singer Donovan. (wikipedia)

Here, for your, and my, enjoyment, is Blackbird. This is the 2009 remastered version which I consider to be the best available.

Blackbird singing in the dead of nightTake these broken wings and learn to flyAll your lifeYou were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of nightTake these sunken eyes and learn to seeAll your lifeYou were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, blackbird flyInto the light of a dark black night

Blackbird fly, blackbird flyInto the light of a dark black night

Blackbird singing in the dead of nightTake these broken wings and learn to flyAll your lifeYou were only waiting for this moment to ariseYou were only waiting for this moment to ariseYou were only waiting for this moment to arise

I bought this album and, until very recently, it was still hidden away in a drawer, complete with all the original inserts. I took the very difficult decision to donate all of my vinyl to charity. I’m glad that I did but, my goodness, it hurt!

Most of the songs on the album were written during March and April 1968 at a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India. This particular track has had all sorts of speculation about its true meaning with, as usual, suggestions that there was a sexual connection, a drug connection, and many other thoughts.

Whatever it was, or was not based on, why not just sit back and enjoy it just for the music. I do!

Happiness Is a Warm Gun

She’s not a girl who misses muchDo do do do do do, oh yeahShe’s well-acquainted with the touch of the velvet handLike a lizard on a window paneThe man in the crowd with the multicolored mirrorsOn his hobnail bootsLying with his eyes while his hands are busyWorking overtimeA soap impression of his wife which he ateAnd donated to the National Trust

I need a fix ’cause I’m going downDown to the pits that I left uptownI need a fix ’cause I’m going down

When I hold you in my arms (ooh, oh, yeah)And I feel my finger on your trigger (ooh, oh, yeah)I know nobody can do me no harm (ooh, oh, yeah)Because

Happiness is a warm gun, yes it is (bang, bang, shoot, shoot)Happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun (happiness, bang, bang, shoot, shoot)Well, don’t you know that happiness is a warm gun momma?(Happiness is a warm gun, yeah)

Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs.

If you fancy having a go you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

I’ve said before, that when thinking of songs to fit the weekly prompts, my memory normally drifts towards The Beatles. This week is no exception and there can only be one song to fit the bill, Golden Slumbers. If you are interested in the original source of this song there is quite an interesting account that you can read by following the previous link.

Golden Slumbers is really part of the finale of the Abbey Road album with “Golden Slumbers” and “Carry That Weight” being written and recorded as one piece, and then morphing into “The End.”

Although their final album was Let It Be , completed and released before the band’s dissolution in April 1970, Abbey Road recording sessions were the last in which all four Beatles participated. The main recording session for “Golden Slumbers”/”Carry That Weight” was on 2 July 1969. John Lennon was not present, as he had been injured in a motor vehicle accident in Scotland on 1 July, and was hospitalised there until 6 July.

As this song is only just over a minute and a half long, I’m indulging myself by adding a few versions that I love.

An absolutely lovely version by Elbow that was used in the 2017 John Lewis Christmas advert, always an eagerly awaited release each year in the UK. This shows the making of that video. There may be copyright issues outside the UK. If you cannot see this one, it is well worth googling (other search engines are available) to try to find it.

A version by Dua Lipa

Because/Golden Slumbers – a version by Seattle Ladies Choir with Golden Slumbers from 3.10.

While recording a demo in 1965, Donovan befriended Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, who was recording nearby. He had recently met Jones’ ex-girlfriend, Linda Lawrence, who is the mother of Jones’ son, Julian Brian (Jones) Leitch. The on-off romantic relationship that developed over five years was a force in Donovan’s career. Linda influenced Donovan’s music but refused to marry him and she moved to the United States for several years in the late 1960s. They met by chance in 1970 and married soon after. Donovan had other relationships – one of which resulted in the birth of his first two children, Donovan Leitch and Ione Skye, both of whom became actors. However, it wasn’t a passing fancy. Linda and Donovan dated from 1965, and married on 2nd October 1970, so they’ve been together for over 54 years!

“Sunshine Superman” was released as a single and was backed with “The Trip” on both the United States and United Kingdom releases.

At the time he wrote these songs Donovan was playing at a nightclub in Los Angeles called “The Trip”, but at the same time was tripping out on LSD shortly before he returned to London where he became the first British musician busted for drugs.

The lyrics describe an LSD trip straightforwardly for the first time on a pop record, almost in journalistic fashion as a series of events in an evening. The singer “almost blew [his] mind” and “got caught in a colored shower”. He stammers as if uncertain of his words and puts together nonsense syllables like “cheek a cheek” and “trip a trip trip”.

Mentioned in the lyrics are:

Bob Dylan and Joan Baez (and Julian, the adopted son of Brian Jones and Linda Lawrence.)

We was a-d-d-d-drivin’ d-downtown L.A.,
About a-midnight hour
And it almost b-b-blew my mind,
I got caught in a coloured shower.
All those lights were t-t-twinkling on Sunset,
I saw a sign in the sky
It said, “T-t-t-trip a t-trip, I trip, trip, ”
I couldn’t keep up up if I tried.
Ah, we stepped down to reality company
To get some instant sleep
And the driver turned, I said, “Welcome back”
He smiled and he said, “Beep beep”.

What goes on? Chick-a-chick.
What goes on? I really wanna know.
What goes on all around me,
What goes on? I really wanna know.

When in should come-a my dream woman,
She got sequins in her hair,
Like she stepped out off of a Fellini film,
She sat in a white straw chair
But I thought I’d take a second look
Just to see what I could see
And my scene had popped out like a bubble does,
There was nobody there but me.
I said, “Girl, you drank a lot of drink-me,
But you ain’t in a Wonderland
You know I might-a be there to greet you, child,
When your trippin’ ship touches sand.”

A silver goblet of wine is-a to be
Held in a bejewelled glove
And her knights they toast the tournament,
The falcons they fly above.
And the queen will a drink of the dew tonight
But the jester she cries alone,
Because Merlin he spoke of an instant spell
To make the devil’s white knights moan
And-a all in all, the seagull said,
“As I look to where I’ve been,
The whole wide human race
Has a-taken far too much Methedrine”.

We sat in a velvet jewel case
With sparkles everywhere,
And Julian he sat on a diamond ring
And-a talked of the days gone by.
We spoke of a common kaleidoscope
And the pros and the cons of Zen
And he spoke and-a said for a piece of cake
He really did have a yen.
Bobby Dylan he sat “the Mad Hatter”,
A broken hour glass in his hand,
And-a Joannie sat in a white lace
Looking cool with a black lace fan.

Well, I didn’t expect to be back so soon with this, but I so enjoyed the first Smile time that I had to discover just where those children lived.

They are from Podersdorf am See, a small market town in Austria with a population of only about 2,500. They are very near to the Slovakia and Hungary borders, so my guess at East European was pretty accurate.

They have what appears to be a fantastic primary school with a fine musical tradition, and here they are, with my Smile time #2, singing “Good Morning, Did you sleep well? I love the anticipation of the percussionists!

Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday. He gives us the chance to share familiar, and not so familiar, songs by setting us a challenge each week to submit a song that either fits in with a word, an idea, or specific criteria.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

For this week we have to find a song that includes somebody famous.

I think I may be stretching the boundaries a little here. I’m not even sure that my inclusion can be called “somebody”! Is it a man? A woman? An entity? Human? Celestial? An alien?

It depends on your perception, your belief, where you live in the world, how you were brought up, what has happened to you since.

I may not always love youBut long as there are stars above youYou never need to doubt itI’ll make you so sure about itGod only knows what I’d be without you

If you should ever leave meThough life would still go on, believe meThe world could show nothing to meSo what good would living do meGod only knows what I’d be without you

God only knows what I’d be without youIf you should ever leave meThough life would still go on, believe meThe world could show nothing to meSo what good would living do meGod only knows what I’d be without you

God only knows what I’d be without youGod only knows what I’d be without youGod only knows what I’d be without youGod only knows what I’d be without you (God only knows)God only knows what I’d be without you (what I’d be without you)God only knows what I’d be without you (God only knows)God only knows what I’d be without you (what I’d be without you)God only knows what I’d be without you (God only knows)God only knows what I’d be without you (what I’d be without you)God only knows what I’d be without you (God only knows)God only knows what I’d be without you (what I’d be without you)God only knows what I’d be without you

This holds very fond memories for me as a special song for me and my first “true” love, Susan Margaret Wood. As I had left home at age 16, in 1964, to join the army, and left Susan behind, this became “our song” when it first came out!

Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

The theme for this week posed a bit of a problem for me as I could quite happily live without television in my life!

I was 14 when we first had a television. Black and white of course, and only one channel. At 16, I joined the army and went to college for 3 years. No television. At 19 I deployed to the Middle East. No television. At 21 I went to Germany. Very little television. My daughter grew up with Sesame Street in German. So it goes on. I watched TV intermittently. Today, if the television is on, the chances are that I am reading blogs rather than watching it.

However, I think it is impossible to be untouched by television. I have seen a fair selection along the way, and one thing I MUST see, when it is on, is Later……with Jools Holland. He is a consummate musician and performer in his own right and , over the years, has introduced a gargantuan list of artists of every genre imaginable, and then some! You can see the list here.

So I thought here we have a huge number of songs I can use for my SLS choice this week.

WRONG!

Instead, I suddenly thought of one show that I found to be both funny, thought provoking, and, at times, downright sad!

M*A*S*H(an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) was an American war comedy-drama television series that aired on CBS from 1972 to 1983. It was developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film M*A*S*H, which, in turn, was based on Richard Hooker’s 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The series, which was produced with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS, follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the “4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital” in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War (1950–53). The show’s title sequence features an instrumental-only version of “Suicide Is Painless,” the original film’s theme song. The show was created after an attempt to film the original book’s sequel, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine, failed. The television series is the best-known of the M*A*S*H works, and one of the highest-rated shows in U.S. television history. (wikipedia)

This was, of course, being shown at the time of the Vietnam War, and was highly controversial. What started out as a comedy, with drama overtones soon became a drama with added comedy!

It’s a long time ago now, but I seem to remember that the “squaddie” humour really came across well, and could evoke real feelings of sadness, even the odd tear or two.

Suicide Is Painless is a song written by Johnny Mandel (music) and Michael Altman (lyrics). It was thetheme songfor both themovieandTV seriesM*A*S*H.

Director Robert Altman had two stipulations about the song for Mandel: it had to be called “Suicide Is Painless” and it had to be the “stupidest song ever written”. Altman attempted to write the lyrics himself, but upon finding it too difficult for his 45-year-old brain to write “stupid enough,” he gave the task to his 14-year-old-son Michael, who wrote the lyrics in five minutes. Ironically, the son’s income from royalties for the song far exceeded his father’s income for the film.

So here it is. The Tongue-in-cheek theme song for the very sad tongue in cheek comedy about the Korean war. The film was released in 1970, at the height of the Vietnam war, and the TV series debuted in 1972, appealing to the growing anti war crowd, lasted 11 years, and was arguably one of the most successful series ever.

Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

The theme for this week is “A song featured prominently in a movie.” Now, it depends on your definition of prominently doesn’t it! Music is pretty important to the movie industry, and a film can become a huge success, or failure, purely because of the choice of music.

The movie that I’ve chosen has 53 different songs, so it cannot really be argued that any of them feature prominently.

Come gather ’round, peopleWherever you roamAnd admit that the watersAround you have grownAnd accept it that soonYou’ll be drenched to the boneIf your time to you is worth savin’And you better start swimmin’Or you’ll sink like a stoneFor the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and criticsWho prophesize with your penAnd keep your eyes wideThe chance won’t come againAnd don’t speak too soonFor the wheel’s still in spinAnd there’s no tellin’ whoThat it’s namin’For the loser nowWill be later to winFor the times they are a-changin’

Come senators, congressmenPlease heed the callDon’t stand in the doorwayDon’t block up the hallFor he that gets hurtWill be he who has stalledThe battle outside ragin’Will soon shake your windowsAnd rattle your wallsFor the times they are a-changin’

Come mothers and fathersThroughout the landAnd don’t criticizeWhat you can’t understandYour sons and your daughtersAre beyond your commandYour old road is rapidly agin’Please get out of the new oneIf you can’t lend your handFor the times they are a-changin’

The line it is drawnThe curse it is castThe slow one nowWill later be fastAs the present nowWill later be pastThe order is rapidly fadin’And the first one nowWill later be lastFor the times they are a-changin’

William Broad became Billy Idol, helped by his Chemistry teacher who wrote on his school report that he was “idle”. He started his musical career as a guitarist in the punk rock band “Chelsea”, in 1976, soon moving to “Generation X”, and then going solo in 1982. He still tours extensively and, in 2014, published his autobiography “Dancing with Myself.”

The music video, featuring Idol attending a goth wedding, is one of his best-known. The bride is played by Perri Lister, Idol’s real-life girlfriend at the time. She is also one of the three dancers clad in black leather, who slap their buttocks in time with the clap track in the song as they shimmy downwards near the end. “That’s the kind of thing they love in England”, says Idol.

In one scene from the video, Idol forces the barbed-wire wedding ring onto the bride’s finger and cuts her knuckle. Lister insisted that her knuckle actually be cut in order for the scene to appear more realistic. MTV initially removed this scene from the video. Also controversial were the apparent Nazi salutes made by the crowd toward the couple. Director David Mallet says he was merely “playing with the power of crowd imagery” when he had the extras reach toward the bride and did not realize how it looked until after it was filmed. (2 paragraphs courtesy of wikipedia)

I hope you enjoy the song: (There are 2 alternative versions at the bottom which I think are brilliant. You may wish to watch those!)

Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday and gives us the chance to share lots of familiar, and some not so familiar, songs.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

The theme for this week includes Magic. Anyone who has been following the Brexit news for the past 3 and a bit years will have seen the bus that Boris took great delight in, claiming that the money saved by leaving the EU would be able to fund the NHS to the tune of £350 million per week.

Of course, that particular bus was a Magic Bus, and that is the song we’re sharing this week!

The song is usually performed as a duet, where the “Rider”, usually singer Roger Daltrey when live, is riding on the bus every day to see his girl. In the song he asks the “Driver”, usually Townshend, if he can buy the bus from him, with the driver’s initial answer being no. After haggling for a while, the driver finally lets him have it and he vows to drive it to his girlfriend’s house every day!

Looking at the lyrics now, makes me wonder if any other magic was involved in the writing. Magic Mushrooms perhaps?

Every day I get in the queue (Too much, Magic Bus)To get on the bus that takes me to you (Too much, Magic Bus)I’m so nervous, I just sit and smile (Too much, Magic Bus)You house is only another mile (Too much, Magic Bus)